In telecommunications networks, the caller ID function or service is generally well known. In short, when a call is placed from a calling party to a called party, e.g., over the public switched telephone network (PSTN), if the called party subscribes to the caller ID feature or service, then the called party receives the telephone number of the calling party, e.g., which may be output on a display associated with the called party's end user equipment. However, the caller ID information provided to the called party does not necessarily confirm the identity of the calling party, rather it only indicates the telephone number from which the calling party placed the call.
There are many circumstances where a called party may desire to know or verify the identity of a calling party, e.g., when the called party will be providing personal, sensitive or otherwise private information (e.g., medical, financial, etc.) to the calling party. As can be appreciated, the called party in such instances typically wants to be sure that the calling party to which the information is being given is in fact who they purport to be. As previously indicated, conventional caller ID may not be sufficiently reliable for purposes of identifying the calling party. For example, an imposter may be calling from an someone else's telephone and posing as that individual. Conventional caller ID would simply provide the called party with the telephone number from which the call was placed, thereby falsely indicating that the calling party is the individual being impersonated when in fact the calling party is the imposter.
Previously, various procedures have been developed to verify a calling party's identity. For example, the called party may ask the calling party one or more questions that can only be correctly answered by the individual whose identity is being verified. For example, the calling party may be asked to recite some secret password; or to provide some private personal data such as their social security number or some portion thereof, or their mother's maiden name; or to answer some prearranged questions to which the called party was previously provided the correct answers. However, this approach can have drawbacks. For example, secret passwords may be forgotten by the calling party attempting to verify their identity. Alternately, passwords and/or private personal data may be stolen, inadvertently compromised or otherwise obtained by those who would fraudulently impersonate an individual. Additionally, a calling party may simply wish not to divulge personal information to a called party, or either party may find the process overly burdensome or obtrusive.
Accordingly, a new and improved secure caller ID service and/or feature is disclosed that overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.